This is the second of a two-part series on academic dialogue and is a collaboration between The Center for Excellence in Teaching; Quade French, USC Dornsife Associate Dean of Academic Culture and Well-being; and Kamy Akhavan, USC Dornsife Executive Director of the Center for the Political Future. This video features Kamy Akhavan discussing what individuals can do to unite conversations.
This resource provides an overview of creating and using community agreements in a course to support respectful and productive student engagement. It includes options for how to create agreements, tips for implementation, and example agreements.
Keywords: community agreements, discussion norms, discussion guidelines, community guidelines, challenging discussions, academic discussions, dialogue, student engagement.
A brief introduction to mindfulness including examples of contemplative pedagogical practices that can be incorporated into courses to support student learning and wellbeing. Created in collaboration with Mindful USC.
A panel discussion on strategies to engage students with appropriate support services at USC. Hear from Patrick Prince, Associate Vice Provost for Threat Assessment and Management, Lynette Merriman, Associate Vice Provost for Campus Support and Intervention, and Naddia Palacios, Assistant Vice Provost for Student Affairs, Student Equity and Inclusion, about how their resources and programs support USC faculty and students.
Rory Lukins from the Dornsife writing program discusses a study on the implementation of contract grading in composition courses at the August 2022 Faculty Showcase on Alternative Assessment
Lori Mesrobian from Dornsife Latin American and Iberian Cultures discusses “ungrading” assignments in language classes at the August 2022 Faculty Showcase on Alternative Assessments
Elise Ruckert and Didi Matthews from the Division of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy discuss design, implementation and revision of a clinical reasoning competency assignment for doctoral physical therapy students at the August 2022 Faculty Showcase
Lorena Martin discusses interactive statistics using Zoom at the November 2021 Faculty Showcase.
This annotated bibliography of selected educational literature was developed to support USC faculty, administrators, and schools in the development and evaluation of excellence in teaching. The focus, particularly in the section Teaching Best Practices in the USC Definition of Excellence in Teaching Criteria, is on published research that experimentally validates the effectiveness of practices that promote student learning outcomes.
A selection of literature resources discussing efforts to define what is meant by “teaching excellence” at the university level.
Center for Excellence in Teaching